36: Marketing complexity into clarity: Insights from Synopsys CMO Ann Minooka

As AI reshapes discovery, how do you make complex tech clear to buyers and demonstrate how marketing is driving growth? Synopsys CMO Ann Minooka shares what it takes to market a highly technical business with clarity, precision, and accountability for business outcomes. She views marketing as the bridge between engineering and the market. Technical product marketing translates capabilities into value propositions, while brand and communications tailor the message for different audiences based on what they care about and where they go for information. Ann explains that her team is moving away from broad product campaigns and vanity metrics like impressions. Instead, she advocates an outcome-led, data-driven approach that uses marketing technology, intent signals and analysis to improve targeting and connect programs to lead quality, pipeline creation and new customer growth. She also outlines how AI is changing planning and implementation, including using behavior signals to meet buyers where they are, building more personalized web experiences, and rethinking content for answer-based discovery across platforms. While AI can speed up first drafts and analysis, Ann believes the bigger unlock is integrating AI across the full workflow and evolving talent and habits.    In this episode, you'll learn:  Ways to make complex offerings clear and relevant to different audiences.  How outcome-focused measurement can help connect marketing to growth.  How AI is reshaping buyer discovery, and ways leaders can adapt.    Key highlights:  [00:30] Introduction   [01:30] A love for nature  [06:00] Ann's path to Synopsys  [09:35] What does Synopsys do?  [15:25] Marketing complex solutions   [20:05] Optimizing for outcomes  [23:40] AI's impact on marketing  [31:00] An experience that defines you: Gaining a global perspective  [34:40] Advice to your younger self: Learn an instrument, own your own career, and be curious  [37:20] A topic you're trying to learn more about: AI's impact on productivity and talent   [41:35] Trends or subcultures: The future of intelligence and space travel  [44:00] Largest potential threat: Resisting AI    Resources mentioned:    Synopsys  Ansys    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Ann Minooka and Synopsys: Ann Minooka on LinkedIn  Synopsys on LinkedIn    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Connect with Alan Hart on X  Connect with Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Connect with Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Connect with Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Connect with Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Connect with Deloitte Digital on Threads    

How can you create marketing that feels like entertainment and drives measurable growth?  Chime Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Vineet Mehra breaks down the product and marketing choices he sees fueling Chime's momentum, including being named Time magazine's No. 1 banking brand. He frames Chime as "not a bank" but a "financial technology company" built for "everyday Americans." And he attributes its traction to showing up in the channels and subcultures where many people spend time, while building products and features designed to meet real needs.   Vineet also shares what other marketing leaders can take from Chime's approach: Start with a differentiated product. Treat attention as the ultimate currency. And use social-first, episodic entertainment to make financial topics more relatable.  At Chime, brand building looks more like running a streaming platform or magazine, where the job is to consistently earn attention with programming people choose to watch.    To ensure that entertainment-driven attention translates into growth, he leans on "performance storytelling" that connects brand-building, direct response and customer lifetime value. He also explains how Chime is applying AI by mapping tools to "jobs to be done" across customer service, creative workflows and talent development. Vineet closes with his view that the biggest potential threat to marketers is resisting change—that leaders should encourage hands-on experimentation while staying anchored to commercial outcomes.    In this episode, you'll learn:  Ways attention can be earned through entertainment-style brand storytelling   Practical lessons for applying AI to specific high-impact work inside marketing and customer operations   How marketing leaders can earn more influence in executive and boardroom conversations    Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction  [01:30] CMO by day, pizza maker by night  [03:15] Vineet's path to Chime  [08:00] Success in the banking industry  [11:15] Marketing that punches above its weight  [14:15] Showing up where people willingly spend time  [16:50] A brief history of marketing leading to performance storytelling  [23:10] Chime's AI journey  [29:30] How AI is impacting talent conversations  [32:40] Marketing and the boardroom  [36:25] An experience that defines you: Growing up as an immigrant in a blue-collar town  [38:25] Advice to your younger self: Bloom where you're planted  [40:15] A topic you're trying to learn more about: The platform shift  [41:30] Trends or subcultures: Hyper-personalized algorithms  [43:10] Largest potential threat: The innovator's dilemma    Resources mentioned:    Chime  "Mama, I Made It" interview series  Ball On A Budget    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Vineet Mehra and Chime:  Vineet on LinkedIn  Chime on LinkedIn    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Connect with Alan Hart on X  Connect with Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Connect with Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Connect with Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Connect with Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Connect with Deloitte Digital on Threads    

How do you raise awareness for complex, highly regulated medical therapies when most eligible patients do not even know it exists? At CES 2026, Alan Hart spoke with Naomi Rodiles, senior director of Global Integrated Communications, Neuromodulation, at Medtronic, about the patient communication required to grow adoption of therapies like deep brain stimulation that can support management of movement disorders like Parkinson's. Naomi explains that the challenge is not clinical efficacy or provider trust, but rather awareness. Even proven therapies can sometimes remain invisible to patients until late in their journey. She outlines how her team is evolving from primarily health care provider-centered messaging to a multichannel, digital-first communications model designed to directly reach patients and caregivers to help them discover, understand and evaluate options earlier. Naomi emphasizes that effective patient marketing in medtech is less about promotion and more about credible education that empowers better conversations in the clinician's office, while strengthening provider partnerships. She also shares practical leadership lessons from the transformation: design for modern consumer expectations, build integrated channel presence so information is findable when people search, and adopt AI carefully to scale content and storytelling within a regulated environment.    In this episode, you'll learn:  Why awareness, not efficacy, is often the real growth constraint for complex offerings and strategies to navigate it  Ways to win trust by prioritizing education over promotion  Practical lessons for scaling content in regulated, high-stakes categories using AI    Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction  [01:00] Starting out at BET's Rap City  [02:15] Naomi's path to Medtronic  [02:50] The scope of Medtronic  [03:50] Medtronic's neuromodulation therapies  [05:55] Marketing life-changing solutions  [07:50] Evolving the messaging  [10:15] Lessons learned  [11:45] Symbiotic relationships with health care providers  [13:10] An experience that defines you: Falling in love with journalism  [14:40] Advice to your younger self: Be mindful of burnout  [15:05] A topic marketers need to learn more about: AI  [16:00] What are you curious about: AI for equity  [16:50] Largest potential threat to marketers today: Resisting change  [18:10] CES trends: AI becoming helpful in everyday life    Resources mentioned:    Medtronic  CES  Medtronic Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) therapy   Medtronic Percept DBS system  Actualize Impact  BET's "Rap City: Tha Basement"     Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Naomi Rodiles and Medtronic:  Naomi Rodiles on LinkedIn  Medtronic on LinkedIn  Medtronic on YouTube    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X  Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads    

How can marketing leaders deliver personalization at scale as content demands surge? How do brands protect discoverability as customers shift their search focus from SEO to answer engines and AI agents?   At CES 2026, Alan Hart sat down with Rachel Thornton, Enterprise CMO at Adobe, to unpack the ways AI is reshaping customer experience orchestration and the content supply chain. Rachel explains that real personalization drives a major increase in content needs, and that AI can compress production cycles so teams can create, test and optimize large volumes of campaign assets faster than humans alone while staying consistent and on-brand across channels. The conversation then turns to generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO) where Rachel notes discoverability is increasingly dependent on how brands show up in AI-driven search results and in the broader ecosystem of content beyond their own websites.   Throughout the conversation, Rachel reinforces that making AI work requires coordinated change across data foundations, processes and skills, not just new tools. She also offers practical lessons for other CMOs on centering customer needs and building a culture of curiosity and experimentation, so teams keep learning as the marketing playbook evolves.    In this episode, you'll learn:  Ways AI enables personalization at scale   Strategies to modernize the content supply chain   How AI is shifting marketing and the adjustments marketers can make to stay discoverable     Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction   [01:00] A love of reading  [01:40] Rachel's career path  [02:50] Life as the Enterprise CMO  [03:55] How AI is changing the marketing role  [06:05] Content supply chain at its best  [07:45] Using AI to its full potential   [09:20] Discoverability in the AI era  [11:45] Lessons for CMOs  [13:20] Examples of companies doing marketing well   [14:15] An experience that defines you: Customer face time  [16:05] Advice to your younger self: It's not linear. Try new things!  [16:45] A topic marketers need to learn more about: AI   [17:40] What are you curious about: Robots  [18:30] Largest opportunity to marketers today: "Everybody is a creator at heart"  [19:50] CES trends: Embedded AI    Resources mentioned:    The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese  Adobe Creative Cloud  Adobe Marketo Engage  Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing   Adobe LLM Optimizer   Adobe Digital Academy   Project Fizzion (Coca-Cola x Adobe)  Adobe x NFL partnership  CES    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Rachel Thornton and Adobe:  Rachel Thornton on LinkedIn  Adobe on LinkedIn  Adobe on Instagram    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X  Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads      

How might your marketing strategy change if you could prove—with shared baselines and benchmarks—which efforts truly move the needle, and which don't? Anaplan CMO Jim Freeze explains how AI is evolving marketing workflows, elevating creative focus, and tightening the link to measurable outcomes. He details how his team sets explicit productivity goals and uses AI to support content development, enabling marketers to spend more time on strategy, creativity and smarter channel-mix decisions. He also dives into measurement fundamentals with practical advice leaders can act on now: establish transparent targets, align on baselines and industry benchmarks, and report progress regularly. The conversation also emphasizes tighter alignment with sales, stronger finance fluency for marketers, and preparing for the AI-driven search that will reshape content and site strategy.   In this episode, you'll learn:  Jim's tips to demonstrate marketing's value with metrics leaders trust   The importance of baselines, benchmarks and transparent reporting to earn credibility with the C-suite  The potential benefits of cross‑functional accountability and AI integration to pipeline velocity, win rates and team focus    Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction   [01:40] Our first math major and second lawyer  [04:20] From programming in C to being a CMO  [07:55] The scope of Anaplan  [12:15] How Anaplan is using AI  [15:45] The evolution of the marketer role  [18:45] Demonstrating the value of marketing   [23:25] The importance of transparency  [26:55] Ways to improve your measurement framework  [30:00] An experience that defines you: Leaving law  [32:25] Advice to your younger self: Take more risks    [33:10] A topic marketers need to learn more about: Finance    [34:50] Trends and subcultures to watch: AI search  [35:40] Largest opportunity to marketers today: AI    Resources mentioned:    Anaplan    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Jim Freeze and Anaplan:  Jim Freeze on LinkedIn  Anaplan on LinkedIn  Anaplan on YouTube    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X  Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads      

What if your next marketing idea could become your company's most valuable product?  Armen Najarian, former CMO at Sift, discusses the challenges of marketing in the digital fraud prevention industry, the power of incentives, and how a marketing solution became an impactful product innovation. Armen shares how creative referral programs like "Super Sifters" and a strong focus on third-party reviews have elevated Sift's market position and built lasting customer trust. He also explains how the company's Fraud Industry Benchmarking Resource (FIBR) tool began as a marketing initiative that faced internal pushback over essentially making company data open source. Despite the risks, the idea evolved into a real-time, peer comparison product feature—and ultimately became Sift's top demand generator. Armen's experience highlights the value of bold experimentation and cross-functional, innovative thinking in driving marketing-led growth.    In this episode, you'll learn:  The incentive strategies that move the needle for Sift How a bold marketing idea can turn into a standout product feature The benefits of finding a personal connection to your work   Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction   [01:05] Escaping to eastern Maine  [03:15] Armen's path to Sift  [05:20] The scope of Sift  [06:20] From brand management to product marketing   [07:55] 10 years in cybersecurity   [10:10] Incentive strategies and bobble heads  [13:45] How marketing can become a product  [15:10] FIBR product demonstration   [18:25] An experience that defines you: Entrepreneurship   [22:40] Advice to your younger self: Don't sweat the small stuff   [24:00] A topic marketers need to learn more about: Experimenting with AI   [25:25] Trends and subcultures to watch: Philosophy     [26:00] Largest opportunity to marketers today: AI    Resources mentioned:    Sift  FIBR  G2    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Armen Najarian and Sift:   Armen Najarian on LinkedIn  Sift on LinkedIn  Sift on YouTube    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X  Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads    

How can marketing leaders balance rapid change, emerging technology and brand purpose to drive lasting growth and loyalty across a portfolio of iconic brands? Anton Vincent, president of Mars Wrigley North America & Global Ice Cream, shares what it looks like to lead with purpose across a suite of powerhouse brands spanning confections, pet care and food. He discusses how Mars balances ambitious growth with a real commitment to responsibility, ensuring that business success and positive societal impact go hand in hand. Anton also underscores the strategic value of developing talent and enabling people to move across different business areas to encourage agility and fresh thinking. He shares why creativity remains essential for brands—especially as technology and analytics redefine what's possible—and highlights the discipline required to uphold quality and brand integrity in a crowded, fast-moving marketplace. Throughout the conversation, Anton stresses that enduring relevance and brand loyalty come from continuous learning and a clear understanding of both consumers and culture.   In this episode, you'll learn:  Why centering business growth with real purpose can create a lasting impact at scale   How ideas supported by data and fueled by originality can capture and hold people's attention in today's crowded market   Ways to build agile teams and nurture authentic brands to stay relevant in a constantly changing world    Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction  [01:30] Basketball talk  [04:30] Anton's path to Mars  [08:00] The scope of Mars  [10:20] Alan's love to Hubba Bubba  [12:20] Scale versus independence of brands  [14:05] The Mars talent strategy  [15:40] Navigating the evolving marketing ecosystem  [18:20] Marketing that adapts to change  [20:30] Notable recent work  [22:05] An experience that defines you: Top Secret Popcorn recall  [26:00] Advice to your younger self: Slow down  [28:30] A topic marketers need to learn more about: Connecting creativity with technology  [33:45] Largest opportunity or threat to marketers today: Constant learning    Resources mentioned:    Mars Wrigley  SNICKERS NFL Bedtime with Josh Allen    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Anton Vincent and Mars Wrigley: Anton Vincent on LinkedIn  Mars on LinkedIn  Mars on Instagram  Mars on YouTube    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X  Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads    

Lingokids Chief Marketing and Chief Operating officer (CMO and COO) Mikael Journo shares how he skillfully blends data-driven strategies with intuitive decision-making to strike a perfect balance between brand building and performance marketing. Drawing from his extensive career experience, Mikael discusses the challenges of marketing to modern parents and highlights how Lingokids—the leading interactive app for children ages 2–8—addresses their worries.   When a recent study revealed that 75% of millennial parents feel guilty about their child's screen time, Mikael and his team saw an opportunity to lean in and shift the conversation. They did so by producing "The Trial," a film that directly confronts this issue and aims to ease parental guilt. Mikael also shares the thought process around the risks involved in the film and launch campaign, outlines the production process, and discusses the results that exceeded the brands expectations.      In this episode, you'll learn:  The importance of balancing intuition and brand building with data and performance marketing   Challenges and strategies for marketing to modern parents  Why and how Lingokids created a brand film    Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction    [01:30] The podcast's first shark wrestler   [02:50] Mikael's path to Lingokids   [08:30] The scope of Lingokids   [11:05] Marketing as a growth driver   [13:35] Balancing the dual roles of CMO and COO   [16:25] Marketing to modern-day parents   [18:30] "The Trial" brand film campaign    [25:45] Navigating challenging subject matter    [29:05] A big bet that paid off   [31:10] An experience that defines you  [34:00] Advice to your younger self  [34:50] A topic marketers need to learn more about  [36:15] Trends and subcultures to watch   [39:40] Largest opportunity or threat to marketers today    Resources mentioned:    Screen time guilt survey  "The Trial" (Lingokids brand film)  Piel Studio  Director, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza  Composer, Fernando Velázquez    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Mikael Journo and Lingokids:  Mikael Journo on LinkedIn  Lingokids on Instagram  Lingokids (for kids) on YouTube  Lingokids (for grown-ups) on YouTube    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X  Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads    

Chief marketing officer (CMO) Andy Levey pulls back the curtain on experiential marketing at the Museum of Illusions (MOI) across the world, revealing the clever strategies that keep audiences coming back long after opening day. With more than 20 years of marketing experience across entertainment, hospitality and lifestyle, Andy's unconventional career path is as intriguing as the illusions he now promotes.   By building strong relationships with local groups and businesses, MOI positions itself as an important part of every community it launches in. One benefit of making those connections is they extend MOI's reach to audiences who might otherwise be outside the museum's marketing budget or traditional targets. Andy and his team focus especially on engaging Gen Z by designing video-first and shareable experiences, inspiring user-generated content, and partnering with social media influencers to spark excitement and create a powerful FOMO (fear of missing out) that drives repeat visits, online sharing and lasting brand loyalty.    In this episode, you'll learn:  How using influencers, user-generated content and a video-first strategy can help brands authentically connect with Gen Z and drive meaningful engagement   The importance of building a strong local market presence for earning trust, collaborating more effectively, and standing out as a valued community contributor  How smarter data collection can power more effective marketing decisions and foster influential relationships      Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction   [01:35] From banking to the circus  [07:45] What is the Museum of Illusions?  [10:55] Strategies to reach Gen Z  [13:25] Andy's approach to experiential marketing  [15:30] "Establishing the base"  [17:45] The data collection strategy   [19:30] Maintaining energy after the opening  [21:05] Brand collaborations   [26:50] An experience that defines you: Living abroad and beginning in a startup  [30:40] Advice to your younger self: Find your voice earlier   [31:45] A topic marketers need to learn more about: AI implementation   [33:20] A topic marketers need to learn more about: Gen Z internet culture   [36:00] Largest opportunity or threat to marketers today: Entertain and deliver     Resources mentioned:    Museum of Illusions  Museum of Illusions locations  PLAY Playground  Two Bit Circus  La Perle by Dragone  Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Andy Levey and Museum of Illusions:  Andy Levey on X  Andy Levey on LinkedIn  Museum of Illusions on LinkedIn  Museum of Illusions on Instagram  Museum of Illusions on YouTube    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X  Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads      

Ford is using advanced data and analytics to make smarter, more personalized decisions that connect and benefit both its dealers and drivers. Mark Sucrese, head of marketing technology and dealer platforms at Ford Motor Company, shares why he believes effective marketing leadership in the automotive industry depends on combining customer insight, adaptable technology and responsible innovation.  Mark discusses how his team enhances both dealer and customer experiences by leveraging technology to strengthen brand connections throughout the customer life cycle. He explains the need to strategically manage customer data in a B2B2C environment and describes Ford's focus on achieving small, high-impact wins—particularly through hyperpersonalized experiences enabled by advances in AI.   The conversation underscores the importance of balancing the art and science of marketing, embracing experimentation, and integrating decisioning models with robust data and flexible technology. Adopting a thoughtful, measured approach to AI and new technologies is becoming essential for responsible, future-ready marketing leadership.    In this episode, you'll learn:  How Ford uses smart decisioning to transform diverse data into highly personalized customer experiences  Why embracing experimentation and learning quickly from failure can accelerate growth and innovation  Which technology trends Mark believes could reshape the automotive industry's future    Key highlights:  [00:00] Introduction   [00:55] Celebrities: They're just like us  [02:45] Mark's path to Ford  [05:05] The scope of his dual role  [06:10] Managing data in the B2B2C model  [07:20] Personalization and the data needed to power it   [08:55] Leadership lessons  [10:15] Perspectives on decisioning  [12:25] A measured approach to AI integrations  [14:30] The future of technology for the automotive industry  [16:05] An experience that defines you: A hard career truth    [17:10] Advice to your younger self: Embrace a "fast fail" mindset  [18:00] A topic marketers need to learn more about: Take a tech approach     [18:55] Subcultures and trends to follow: Overlanding  [19:50] Largest opportunity and threat to marketers today: AI adoption and resistance     Resources mentioned:    Ford Motor Company  Shah Rukh Khan    Follow the podcast:    Listen on Apple Podcasts    Listen on Amazon Music   Listen on Audible   Listen on iHeart Radio  Listen on Spotify      Connect with Mark Sucrese and Ford Motor Company:  Mark Sucrese on LinkedIn  Ford Motor Company on LinkedIn  Ford Motor Company on Instagram   Ford Motor Company on YouTube    Connect with Alan Hart and Deloitte Digital:     Alan Hart on X  Alan Hart on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on LinkedIn   Deloitte Digital on Instagram   Deloitte Digital on YouTube   Deloitte Digital on Threads